The present invention relates to a database creation method and apparatus suitable for creating a database such as, for example, a dictionary used for a Kana-Kanji conversion system or a Roman character-Kanji conversion system, a database creation program to be executed by a computer, and a computer-readable recording medium on which a database creation program to be executed by a computer has been recorded.
Conventionally in a Kana-Kanji conversion or Roman character-Kanji conversion system (hereinafter referred to as a Kanji conversion system) employing, for example, a personal computer or a document composition apparatus (a so-called word processor), input signals from a keyboard and the like, for example, are transformed to Kana or Roman character codes, and character images of Kana characters or Roman characters corresponding to these codes are displayed on a screen of a display device, or one or a plurality of contiguous Kana codes or Roman character sequences are transformed to kanji codes and kanji-character images corresponding to these Kanji codes are displayed. Incidentally, the term “Kana-Kanji conversion” means transforming Kana codes to kanji codes, and the term “Roman character-Kanji conversion” means transforming Roman character codes to Kanji codes.
Moreover, the above Kanji conversion system is generally provided with a dictionary database where a correspondence table between Kana characters and words has been stored, and it is configured so as to perform a conversion from one or a plurality of contiguous Kana characters to a word automatically or according to an instruction from a user. Incidentally, the above “word” is constituted by a combination of a plurality of kanji characters, a combination of Kanji character(s) and Kana character(s), a plurality of Katakana characters, or the like.
An original dictionary database which is prepared for the Kanji conversion system in advance is one which has been prepared and created by, for example, a kana-Kanji or Roman character-Kanji conversion software vendor or the like. Moreover, many of such dictionary databases are configured to allow the addition of new words and the update of words, or an automatic setting of conversion priority according to the use frequencies of words.
However, in order to add a new word to the dictionary database intentionally, such a user's work or operation is required that, for example, a user retrieves his or her desired kanji characters or kana characters from the dictionary database to create a word by combining these characters and then issues an instruction for adding and registering the created word to the dictionary database or an instruction for performing updating on the dictionary database.
Moreover, in order to change the conversion priority intentionally, a user must perform such a work or operation as input operation for transforming the Kana characters to a word, for example, a plurality of times.
As mentioned above, in the conventional Kanji conversion system, several complicated operations or steps conducted by a user manually are required to perform the addition of a new word and the update of an existing word or the intentional setting of a conversion priority, which results in a remarkable deterioration of efficiency.